'still looking at Angel Meadow.........

Several things I found out  today.For example (Don,did you know?)Nobby Stiles learnt his skills as a kid,playing over the 40,000 graves of Angel Meadow! (growing up as a child the Council  had put goalposts on St Michaels Flags!)
And Lowry , although everybody thinks him a Salford painter.......many of his images  were taken from Angel Meadow ,where he worked as a rent collector.....he would sketch inbetween collecting Debt...........(i bet Mr Wonga dont do that today!)
Me & Cath are in Manchester this weekend.We went to a Talk about Angel Meadow & St Michael's Flags It was part of Manchester Histories Festivalwhich runs for the next 8 days. Today was also the Reopening of Manchester Central Library It would have been rude not to go.Its a bit like the Deck of The Starship Enterprise. A 'Must Visit' the next time your in the city.
I did these images mostly on my new Panasonic compact.I really think my late-great Fuji (RIP) was better...but these are ok...I may get used to this new regime
one 'plus' is that .I do like the "panorama" mode! The display on here doesnt do them justice....if you wish to see much better vision look at 'em  on This slideshow.....

reassuringly the appearances are within normal limits{x-ray style!}

You may remember this recent post about my x-ray worries?
Today I ,finally,got a letter from the Consultant saying "I have reviewed your chest x-ray from February 2014. Reassuringly the appearances are within normal limits. To ensure there are no further changes,I would like to repeat your x-ray in may 2014..."
Which is fine and pretty much what was said by my Asthma Nurse
.I am not worried any more...& i see my GP next week to discuss [in the nefarious zone..] .
But i still think the consultant could have explained better&quicker.Still ,its reasurring that the NHS [in general] is being so thorough.....
I will also be speaking to my GP about my hernia & diets..Hey ! I am still not  smoking..but ,increasingly, I am vaping which i dont take as being very positive (?).....
I worked in Bradford for 9 years as a teacher in the middle 80's onwards.
I used to drive each day from Hebden Bridge to Bradford to school.Cant say i have many very good memories of the place (which is sad). < I went to Bradford  with Chris this week.It's the first time I have set foot in the place for,what, maybe 2 years?
 If it was to remind me of anything good,it would be my  playing Rugby League once at the massive (100,000 capacity) Odsal Stadium ) .I played 'hooker',and we (Halifax) got thrashed by Bradford Northern!
And seeing Ian Dury there once with Cath & Phil the X-Fireman.....
I got a new compact camera.
Its much cheaper than the my old faithful (R.I.P. Fujifilm exrfinepix f70)
but my new panasonic dmc xs1 does have a few interesting whistles & bells.
I'm still getting used to it but i took it with me on my travels this week to Hebden Bridge,Sowerby Bridge,Burnley[ Sauna],Halifax,Bradford (with Chris) & Halifax (with Ken).These are the results.... all fairly random....

R.I.P. Tony Benn. x

Your Gentle (albeit ,Modest) Author was interviewed on English Telly on Saturday afternoon.......
trivia-junkies may wish to know that the opening sequence of this clip shows us  walking past Halifax Swimming Pool,where I had just come out  from a two hour sauna session.......... This is a Sepia Saturday post

"......They looked at a selection of material including letters and books belonging to John Dee, as well as the famous oval burn mark on the Audit Room table which is said to be the hoof print of the devil, conjured up one dark Manchester night by Dee's magic arts. ......." Chethams Library News

Outside The New Halifax  Central Library,1983

It's a sign of the times? They are knocking  down Halifax's main Library to build  a Primark
  Now given that over 200  UK libraries were closed down by The Tory government in 2012 alone   I suppose Halifax should be grateful for any replacement (albeit one the size of a broom cupboard).
I remember the current library being built.I took this infra-red photo of the fountains outside it sortly before its opening.
Why are all new buildings so antiseptic? {Like hospitals.....}.but at least this 1983 Halifax Library
 was much bigger the original one, which had been at Belle Vue (between Hanson Lane & Gibbet Street).itself a  rambling  old building with  grounds the size of several Rugby League pitches.
'like an old winter palace...
Such irony , that such opulence should be found   only a spit & a fart from The Gibbet Street Workhouse ...
.But that's another story......
After the original building burnt & was rebuilt in 1885 it was sold to the Halifax Corporation in 1892 and part of it was turned into the Library.
In 1892 a meteorological station was also incorperated .
In 1897 a Museum was  created in another part of the building.
In the Gardens, a tower and crenellated curtain wall was built.In 1953 (a year after I was born) an aviary was built in the gardens,
Personally,I remember the Belle Vue Library very well.IAs a child & young adult i visited often.It was there that both Enid Blyton & Jack Keroac talked to me.It was there I listened.
It had a certain smell.That musty/creaky smell that seems to be trapped in Posh old houses.I remember as a little child arriving at the front entrance and being greeted inside by Giant Stuffed Bears & other animals stood in glass cases.It was like they were stood guard at the bottom of an impressive Staircase (think : Scarlet O'Hara in a ballgown in 'Gone With The Wind'
 The (Halifax)staircase  would take you up to the library on the first floor.
I always got confused in my mind with this house & the one I saw on the Telly in "THE ADDAMS FAMILY".......anyway.........
After Halifax's Library moved away in 1983,the bulding & grounds were sold and used as a business HQ for local fat cat bissynessman.Currently,i understand there are plans to turn the former Ballroom into a venue for Muslim Weddings ( Gibbet Street is the center of our Muslim Community now).
Perhaps this is the reason I love all Libraries.Next to a good graveyard, there is no place better for conjured up Other Lives & different spirits....
Yes, Belle Vue had a rare Atmosphere.But a even rarer one  (And happily still with us) can be found at Chethams Library in Manchester A most magical place.It must be the oldest building in manchester?Right near Victoria Railway Station.Well worth a visit.No doubt the ghosts of Karl Marx and John Dee will entertain you!Just tell'em "Tony sent me"........

 

Good News ! Manchester Reference Library reopens on the 22nd of this month.Thanks to Andrew Simpson and his  Splendid Blog for the knowledge.

A photo I took of some books=in-chains  in Chethams Library.Here are some more I took in 2011

 

 

British Sea Power:Live at Westminster Reference Library ) [n.b.big march against the destruction of the NHS in Halifax on Saturday :I hope to add some image here on Saturday night:Stay Tuned!} Ironic.When I wrote the above post,I didnt know that today's March would end up outside the Library!The buildings you see here will all be knocked down in the next couple of years...

What Jesus did next......

Me & Phil the Ex-Fireman & Ken went to Sowerby Bridge tonight ...
.We went to The Puzzle Hall pub & a good band was playing....... [Issimo: Marc+Abi]

On our way to The Puzzle , we walked past a church.Phil showed us where his son Bryn was the model for  Sowerby Bridge's   Stainglass~ Jesus in St Paul's Methodist Church[ see in  video ]
Bryn lives in Sowerby Bridge.About ten years ago a stranger approached him while he was out walking.The bloke was an Artist .Would Bryn like to pose for him? As Jesus! The result you can see 15ft tall in the church window. Must be rather strange seeing yourself as the Messiah everyday you walk through town........
Rest in Peace old faithful servant. Fuji F70-EXR You have died .Shall we ever see you like again?[especially in relation to the Gigs ].No doubt you shall be replaced.....but by anything better...I doubt!!!!
In the meantime I am just using my Panasonic HD camera .More versatile (eg audio files;HD video) but the quality is more 'cold' [.see today's photos here as an example.........]
  I also have my NIKON D200 for special/pre-planned occasions.but wildly too big to hide in my pocket!
 

what doesnt make you stronger ,kills you.........

photo taken by Doris.

2014 has not got off to the best of starts for me.hositalized in January with pneumonia,and asthma-breathing difficulties.......
The British NHS is the best health care in the world.(remember,America,my 3 days in hospital:my consultant:my Asthma Nurse:My X-Ray Men;etc are all Free) infact ,even free, we demand 100% 'We pay for it through taxes after all.We have high expectations......
...... 8 days ago I got a phonecall out of the blue from my consultant's secretary.Telling me the X-Rays they took in A&E  on January 3rd showed "A change in the left lung"and could I "undergo a repeat chest x-ray in the second week of February to ensure there is no significant abnormality".The request form i gave to the Hospital's X-Ray Man 7 days ago said on it "LRTI?Left Hilar Prominence" .
Now i was worried.Nobody had sat me down and told me any of this.While in hospital in January two different doctors went out of their way to say my x-rays "were fine".
This Monday I rang up my Consulatant's secretary ( he's called DR.R.P. KARADI by the way).I asked if she had any news of my x-ray results yet.She sounded surprised."Oh ,he's on Annual Leave this week.He wont even look at them for at least 1 to 2 weeks"....
So I have been worried for over a week.self-diagnosing on the internet..researching the joys of Lung Cancer et al(.........while ,no doubt,Dr Karadi reads some thriller on a beach somewhere......)
Thankfully i had a routine visit to my asthma nurse yesterday.I told her the tale.She hacked into the hospital's records & read me the X-Ray Mans report.
It turns out the original x-ray in A&E showed one lung slightly larger than the other,but ,crucially,  no structural abnormalities.The X-Men wondered if i had sat in slightly the wrong position when it was taken.They just wanted a second photo to check.Last week's  2nd X-Ray showed my lungs were symetrical.I was sat wrong orginally......I am ok.
Now my asthma nurse shouldnt really have given me this information.But how long will it be before the Consultant passes this on? (if at all)

When exactly did subjectivity die?

Objectively , they have looked after me wonderfully.But a 30 second informal conversation would have avoided 8 days+ of needless worry for me.
We live in a world of checklists & "targets". It is unfortunate that "hypochondria-prevention"doesnt seem to be a target in this Brave New World..........

This is a Sepia Saturday post.

This week's Theme is "Crowds"........If you look at this photo,& the people in it,notice several souls are savvy enough to turn & notice the camera.........
Brighouse,"The Birthplace of The Selfie"?
The building in question was on Mill Royd Street.
A 5-storey high and 17-windows wide silk-spinning mill in Brighouse..
The mill burned down on 26th October 1903, and fireman Alexander Carmichael was killed on his way to the blaze.
Alexander lived at Back Bonegate, Brighouse. He was killed when he was fell from the fire engine as it sped to the fire...............
Poor  old Alex.,killed not by the fire itself, but by the alarm surrounding it....such is life (& death).

in a stable condition....

Neil Young:Live in Japan:1976:Heart of Gold.

this week's speia saturday 212 is looking at  snow. It's excess & it's absence..........

Sepia Saturday 212

One of a Series of photos taken by some of the Anglo Saxon side of my family in the early 20th century in Lake Saranac in up state New York  ..To some extent,I am recycling These previous posts
{Me Thinks our ancestors enjoyed & gleaned more fun out of extremities than we do now?Just a Thought........}
Thankfully ,we have had no snow here yet this winter.Here is a photo Chris took up the road last Winter......

I am getting over my recent illness.Saying that, Im not 100% in as much as I get tired very easily still.
I'm now on stronger steroids for my asthma (flutiform instead of beclometasone) A fairly minor ajustment ,& still ,i feel, only moderate in terms of heavy-duty asthma (?).
I'm still not that sure what i would do differently if it happened again?

it was all so quick.

In the space of 48 hours I went from Hero -to-Zero. New Years's revellery to the back of  an Ambulance with an Oxygen Mask on......
It was   lower respiratory tract infection {pneumonia?} which in turn triggered a bad Asthma attack.........Hey-Hoy .
My asthma is controlled at the moment ,and I only feel a little hoarse as i type this post........... [above:Bob Dylan "see you later Allen Ginsberg".Basement Tapes Outakes.]
Here in Calderdale ,we are in the middle of the weeklong Wyrd Britannia Festival.
The festival rolled into Hebden Bridge Library tonight.
Andy Roberts gave a talk on LSD in Britain & the band Magpahi also played.
Andy is a great advocate of the drug.
I took it several times in the 70s and I fully support his plea for understanding

.A groovy night was had by all!

 

 

Roll on John:Blackpool 2013 :Bob Dylan.

those wacky Anglo-Saxon Zimnochs......

 

l

The Allen Ginsberg Project

the 3 ghosts of zimnoch { غزل‎ : an audio post}

"Once More we come like dust adance in air........" (Rumi:Ghazal :1720)

1962 school photo.

 

Two old men are sitting in a cafe. Gideon says to Dave , "Did you come on the bus?" Dave  replies, "Yeah, but I made it look like an Asthma attack."

As it happens, the story begins only a few hours after the photos in previous post..... taken on New Year's Eve....

At 5am on Friday 3rd January 2014 i was in the middle of a severe asthma attack.Over just 2 days this had developed into something scary.I was afraid.
When I was ten ,an older lad in the swimming pool (Woodside Baths)had put his big hand ontop of my head ,and pushed me down ,my head underwater...& held me there.Maybe he had attention-deficit,because he seemed to forget about me...but his hand didnt........
.I can still remember my childhood panic.The situation returned on Friday 3rd January 2014.Nothing ever really leaves us does it?
That same year (it must have been 1962?)I swallowed a big boiled sweet whole..Had I been alone, perhaps i would have died?Luckily,my big Brother Ziggy was nearby & he manage to get the sweet out.
Heimlich maneuver or a simple kick in the bollocks I cant remember.it doesn't really matter in the end.The main thing is it worked.
So i was rushed by ambulance to A&E in Halifax.I stayed  in hospital for 3 days.I was proper poorly.Perhaps not as sexy as a Stroke or a Heart Attack....but serious enough to these old bones..
I'm home now ,still on gardening leave & swallowing a shed load of antibiotics & steroid tablets (where is that damn Heimlich when you need him?)
I,ve been wallowing in my excitement on facebook .i know i tend to get manic & obsessive when something important happens to me.I also dislike the way i insist on turning everything into some sort joke or jolly caper.It's a way of avoiding i suppose
Anyway..........what i tell here for the first time,is 3 linked portraits/vignettes about my stay on the ward .Things that happened in our 4 -man sideward during my weekend in hospital.
Although not directly to do with my illness (you must be sick of hearing about it)Some extremely poignant  things occured.Some  ghosts past ;present & future.arrived.A reunion of sorts.The whole affair seemed like some  planned  Pagent's rehearsal.................

click bar directly below to hear the post /dont forget to turn on your audio:

You know ?I havnt walked out of doors since 1a.m. on the 1st of January 2014.......

3 Little Known Zimnoch Hospital Facts:

1962 was  the last time i ever stayed in hospital (6 weeks in traction with a fractured femur)
1965 in Poland.The only time I ever met my Polish grandmother.just the one occassion, on her hospital deathbed in Białystok
1952.six of the first nine months of my life were spent in hospital in Huddersfield. with Meningitis .



Me in 1960 (?) in a Leven,Fife  garden.From my Auty Brenda's photo album..

This is a Sepia Saturday post.


Happy 2014

I used to believe that something magical happens on New Year's Eve.I know better now..but still a good night.Thanks X

what good am I.

The Gentle Author is reading a racy new book called "The Best Of Sepia Saturday" why dont you buy it and feel the pulse!You can purchase it here . Then you can meet 46 Gentle Authors! It's published,printed & written by Alan Burnett . He asked if he could take one of my posts (I still have to pay for my copy!)
I have not been around much of late.This should be my final post of the year,so I will be around visiting all my neglected friends over the next week.
May i wish you all a very Happy Christmas . I hope 2014 is sepiatastic for us all.
This is a sepia saturday post.
The audio is the actual live recording of Bob Dylan at the Winter Gardens Blackpool on November 22nd this year. Me Cathy Margaret & Don where in the audience......

.................What good am I then to others and me
If I’ve had every chance and yet still fail to see
If my hands are tied must I not wonder within
Who tied them and why and where must I have been.....................?

click here to hear this extremely rare,very good quality(from the soundboard),highly illegal  bootleg recording of the performance we saw  :

I'm having something of a gallop through my year in photos.To say I've not been abroad, or had any sort of extended holiday,it's been an interesting year!

[to see all my photos you can view my image website  {here} .]

As this is some sort of a review of 2013,here are 2 videos I took at Hebden Bridge Trades Club this year at my 61st Birthday Gig........the music was provided by British Sea Power a band i have supported here for many years.In my opinion,the best British band of the past ten years.....(I really care little what the accountants & beancounters might say.....)

.

I am attending this in January.should be fun.

He was long and tall, had plenty of cash, He had a red cadillac and a black moustache~Bob Dylan

This is a Sepia Saturday post.For your theme you can go with swimmers, trophies or rather fine moustaches, or - as always - any interpretation you care to adopt............

I have never had a moustache in my life.The nearest was as one of the Village People on a Stag Do in Benidorm a few years ago'(even then,because of the heat & cheap spanish glue,It kept dropping off...I'd have made a rotten spy,non?)

My Grand Father did tho! The top photo was taken in Poland in 1938(He is pictured with my Granda Ma & Aunty Helca).Taken shortly before my Dad went to War.........my Dad never saw him again..........I did  meet  my GrandMa,in 1965, although (literally), it was on her 'death bed'.

.Helca I knew.I spent time  with her a couple of occasions....she was a lovely soul.and kept the most beautiful garden in Bialystok.......

So! Two Zimnoch Moustaches! Can you spot the family likeness?

 

“The sense that you were given some space on the Internet, and allowed to do anything you wanted to in that space, it's completely gone from these new social sites,” said Scott. “Like prisoners, or livestock, or anybody locked in institution, I am sure the residents of these new places don't even notice the walls anymore.”
Above is a quote from this interesting piece The death and life of great Internet Cities A treatise of sorts on how blogging has declined in the face social sites such as facebook.
I've been blogging since the year dot.com.I've changed my habits here on Bench.I dont write as much;i dont post as much & i certainly comment& interact as much......which is a shame......
The article talks of old blogs in archeological terms..lost civilizations & cities ......and their  need to be excavated [.n.b. i hope to be back up  to speed here again soon!]

ßoß plays ßlackpool.

Me & Cath went to see Bob Dylan play The Winter Gardens in Blackpool last night.
We stayed overnight in a hotel in St Annes.directly outside the hotel :on the Prom:facing the sea was a statue of the geezer pictured.
He does remind me of His Bobness in his John Wesley Harding period.Can you see the likeness.........? (dont know who the chick with him is.....)
I took along a compact camera &amp a cheap HD pocket camcorder to record some sound
.The results would hardly worry Cecil Blount DeMille.But,hey ! This is a souvenir not a document.
See the slideshow for some pictures...in a strange way they caputure the grainy obliqueness of Bob (that's my story & I'm stcking to it!)
I captured 80% of the concert on audio.As the clip above suggests, its not brilliant quality.'Might slap it on a cd and try to clean up the sound at some point.
Big Thanks to Don & Margaret who got us the tickets.& a we ate nice Italian meal with them before the gig.Lovely.
The Winter Gardens is a fine old place.Great Sound & great views.
A beautiful night.Ive never seen&heard Bob so well before.The man continues to surprise & delight.

another fandango in Halifax

Good Luck Jackie Leven

Jackie Leven died { 2 years ago tonight.}Still & Forever Missed X

You know Don.....on so many levels.....I should have taken your suggestion (Bury/the week meMam died). I should have gone spoken to him...........

{from:}

{a German Jackie Leven blog}

a hermit of Hælɨ fæks

[Switch on audio to hear John's Talk]

"There is a story that a Halifax market-woman was riding her horse past the Gibbet as the axe fell and the severed head bounced across the platform and into her lap, where it seized her apron in its teeth and refused to let go....... "[from:]

Picture the scene........Stood sheltering from the heavy rain against the blackened walls of Halifax Minster last Sunday afternoon.
20 or so Souls taking part in one of the Calderdale Heritage Walks.
We listen to John Billingsley tell us the origins & meaning of the name "Halifax".
You can also read about Halifax's Grizzly History here Haunts of the Halifax Slasher A walk through hysteria and violence in a Pennine milltown

One of the cues/prompts for this week is to 'celebrate our ancestral homes ' Hence this  audio of John's voice.

The photo here is of an unknown member of the Scottish branch of my family in Perth.(taken ,presumably outside his house?) .He looks like a hermit,non?

My Family tree has many branches of Half-members.

In the 1960s .I remember Me & my Mum visiting one relative, obscure & reclusive in Perth.

We knocked and we knocked but therelative I never saw  didnt  answer the door.....I think the house in the photo was where we waited & eventually (sadly) walked away........

Now.This photo is much older.(1920's?) But I feel a connection with my own  memory and with the hermit of Hælɨ  fæks.......... .

This is a sepia saturday post.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Gibbet
• http://www.bigsiteofamazingfacts.com/what-does-the-phrase-go-to-halifax-mean-and-where-does-it-come-from
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Slasher
• http://www.hebdenbridge.co.uk/news/2013/237.html

Everybody had to pay and pay

see more of Today's photos [here]

one photo i took today.

On Sunday.Me & Cathy went on a splendidly wet & breezy Guided Walk around Halifax with local historian & writer John Billingsley.
Check out my next post for an audio of him explaining how Halifax came to get its name.Part history:part folklore & part magic...I think you might find it both interesting & surprising.
Also,John told many tales of Halifax I didnt know.eg that the last two people to be executed in Halifax were two of "TheCragg Vale Coiners".
Once dead   ,there bodies were put on display on Beacon Hill (high overlooking the town)As a warning to others.[A bit like Calvery.......]
Even more macarbe, their corpses were held erect within iron cages.The cages were specially adapted so that one arm was elevated (in Nazi Salute-fashion)So that they appeared to be seen pointing out  the part of the town their supposed "crimes" had been committed.......
We returned from our "Ghost Walk" to hear the News of Lou Reeds death.  walk on the wild side indeed! Rossendale Council close Haslingdon Baths in 10 days (like FOREVER)
 I thought today,Friday, would be somber....But all the staff got themselves dressed up in pink St Pepper uniforms to raise funders for breast cancer awareness. A jolly good idea....
.I thought it would be a really sad day .Another public facility closed by Tory Cuts.
But,to be honest the saddest thing for me was, as we arrived in the building ,we saw about 6 young council staff sat in their pink cancer-awareness uniforms & I said something like "Oh,you look like Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band ...!" And,in unison they said "Who's Sgt.Pepper?"...I felt very old............